


fireflies and the smell of pine

by angelheartbeat



Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Adoption, And I'm adding to the pile what's up, Dadvid AU, End of camp, You all know the drill there's been a thousand of these fics, dadvid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-30
Updated: 2017-08-30
Packaged: 2018-12-21 14:41:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,379
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11946414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelheartbeat/pseuds/angelheartbeat
Summary: Camp is over, camp is empty, and there are but a few stray souls left with nowhere to go and too much attachment.





	fireflies and the smell of pine

**Author's Note:**

> there's been legit so many of these fics and comics and animatics and everything bbut I love them and will it stop me? of course not

The night was fairly quiet, as nights go, the stillness of dark disturbed by the buzz of fireflies and the crackling and popping of burning wood, emanating a gentle orange glow and illuminating two figures sat beside the fire.

Earlier that evening, the campers had slowly been picked up, said goodbyes that ranged from uncaring to emotional, and the camp had slowly but surely emptied. Neil and Nikki had been two of the last to leave, and although Max wasn't in a rush to admit it, he had had tears in his eyes as he waved goodbye to his friends, before his face had devolved into its usual scowl.

Gwen was busy packing her things, ready to leave camp herself the next day, and the Quartermaster was busy with who knew what. That left Max and David, sat by a fire, watching smoke curl up into the sky.

Max's parents hadn't shown up.

Max hadn't expected them to.

And yet, as he sat, face warmed by the fire and still in a customary scowl, hands jammed deep into his hoodie pockets, there was a distant sense of abject loneliness, of abandonment, of being unwanted, and it made him stare deep into the earth as he kicked at the ground and traced patterns in the dirt with the toe of his shoe.

The scenario was just like Parents Day all over again. They had forgotten, just like he knew they would. It still hurt.

David sat beside him, and in the firelight Max could see that his usual grin had dropped, had changed to something deeply sad, and it made the cold ball of Max's heart tighten. He had to say something. Break the silence.

"David?"

"Hm?"

The single word pulled David out of whatever trance he had fallen into, making him blink and glance at Max, one corner of his mouth pulling up slightly in a hopeful smile. Max glared at the floor, jabbing at it with his toe and hoping he didnt sound too sentimental.

"Camp isn't the worst place on earth. I... I didn't hate it." he grumbled, avoiding eye contact as much as possible, and there was the soft sound of David chuckling. The rustle of a breeze drifted gently through the air, carrying with it the buzz of crickets and assorted bugs.

"I'm glad, Max." David said simply, letting out a sigh. They fell silent again. The fire dimmed slightly, and David leaned over to the pile of firewood and tossed another log on it, the flames engulfing it immediately and greedily. Leaning back on his hands on the log he was sat on, Max peered through the cloud of smoke at the sky, counting as many stars as he could before his eyes went fuzzy.

"Sure are a lot of stars, huh?" David mumbled, seemingly more to himself than to Max, and when the kid glanced over he saw David, hunched over with his head tilted up, the ghost of a smile on his face, and for a second he wasn't just Max's overly cheerful camp counselor with too-wide a smile and too-positive an outlook. He was... someone else. Someone more inherently David, someone Max suddenly realised he actually kind of trusted, someone that was almost like a dad - almost.

An owl hooted. The wind changed direction. More silence.

"What if my parents dont ever show up?"

Max hadn't wanted to voice the fear, not ever, let alone to David, but it had just slipped out in the quiet and in the moment that almost seemed to be its own pocket of reality, illuminated by stars and crackling wood, backing track provided by Mother Nature. He didnt dare look at David's face again. The man didnt reply for a long, long time, longer than Max felt comfortable with.

And then, softly, out of the darkness; "How would you feel about, maybe, coming to stay with me?"

Shocked, Max's head whipped around to face David, eyebrows drawing together, and it was David's turn to avoid looking at him, to keep watching the stars, back hunched over so much it was unnaturally un-David-like. His face was upturned and tilted slightly away, so much so that Max couldn't read his expression.

"Wh... what?"

"I mean, I... I know I'm too positive for you a lot, and too cheerful, but... I dont want you to go to a home with parents that don't care. You dont deserve that. Its like I said.. you deserve to be happy, Max, and I'd do anything to... to make sure you get what you deserve. And.. I'd care about you, more than whatever parents don't deserve to have you in their lives. I...."

David chuckled softly, but it turned into more of a gentle hiccup, and thats when it occurred to Max that maybe David was crying. He shifted forward a little, and sure enough, tears were welling up in the man's eyes, but he seemed to notice Max looking, and laughed again, wiping them away with the back of his hand and coughing like the moment never happened. "Sorry. I.. It was just a thought. You don't have to-"

David was cut off by small arms wrapping around his middle, and a face burying itself in his side, and there was a good few seconds when he just sat there, unsure of what to do. Max seemed to have no intentions of pulling back, and it was only once David felt something dampening his side that he was ninety-nine percent sure was tears that Max spoke. "Hug back, you fucking asshole."

It was mumbled and almost indistinguishable with the way Max's face was pressed into the fabric of David's shirt and the side of his body, but it was audible enough to prompt David to wrap his arms around Max and let a few tears roll down his cheeks, a couple of them falling into Max's mess of curls. They sat like that for longer than David would have ever thought possible, listening to the fire pop and owls hoot.

Naturally, it was Max who pulled back first, scrubbing at his damp eyes with the sleeve of his hoodie and looking away angrily, but David sighed and put an arm around him, and Max rather weakly gave in and rested against his side.

The fire dimmed once again, and this time David didnt lean over to the firewood pile to feed the flames, simply watched as the heat died down to glowing embers, smoke still curling upwards even in the absence of flame. It was only once the last lick of fire had died did Max finally speak, a slight sniffle in his voice.

"I don't think staying with you would be totally fucking awful. It could be okay."

David pulled Max subtly closer, trying to convey without words just how much that meant to him, and hoping it got across, which it somewhat did. 

"I'm not that bad to live with, Max. I'll do everything I can to look after you."

"Yeah. Thanks, David."

He was answered with another squeeze of David's arm around him, but neither of them made any sort of move to get up. They just sat there, staring at the burnt ashes of the fire and both thinking separately about the future, David with figures and fear and hope running through his head, Max with fear and excitement and above all  _freedom._

It was Max's next words that made David start crying again, and made him vow to himself mentally that he would do everything he could to make this work out, to make sure this child was as happy as could be and to make this work any way possible, no matter how tough it ended up being.

And it was David's next words that made Max almost, almost start crying again, and made him think maybe life wouldnt be quite so bad anymore, maybe he wouldnt be quite so bad anymore, maybe he had something to live for and maybe, just maybe, things were looking up for him, because he was finally free, living with an overenthusiastic camp counselor but honestly? He didnt think there was a better way for this to have ended.

"I love you, Dad."

"I... I love you too, Max."

**Author's Note:**

> its 3am I wrote this in one go and now im really hungry
> 
> is this like,, actually coherent?? who the fuck knows certainly not me


End file.
